DIY rebuildable atom, some questions

[kosliev]

Don't know, but it just hit me, the small screw post is more or less copper plated (I sanded the "black chrome" coating), and I sanded a big chunk of the connector thats inside the cone, and so copper is exposed there too.

I'm not sure its a good idea to have copper in there

At any rate, the coil is going to be vertical, should I make one hole on the side of the cone, slightly below the middle of the coil, or two smaller holes on either sides of the cone? I can swap the 510-ego with another unscratched one, though the cone doesnt quite screw well on that one, I'll see what I can do about it.

 

[asdaq]

Not to pop your bubble, but it is brass not copper. Copper is too soft and machines poorly. Brass is an alloy of zinc and copper machines better and holds it's shape. Show me a copper 510 connector that lasts for more than a half and I'll flatten it with a hammer in about 3 solid taps.

 

[kosliev]

Ah, well I sanded the middle pin and saw yellow/pale gold, that registers as brass, started to sand the main body, after the layer of nickel chrome theres orange/salmon, that registers as copper to me (same color as my copper wire), perhaps if you keep sanding theres brass again.

Or is that brass and I was being tricked all along?

--
Turns out the 3wires method is absurd, so I took the wire holder of those cheap chinese RCA's I disassembled to make the RCA atty, spread the wire holder (that metal band with teeth that you normally snap off and bin), fits perfectly around the connector, gonna keep it in place with a quick wire soldered to it, then solder a syringe needle to the flat part, soldering behind the pad, away from the coil.

 

[asdaq]

I see, nickel plating won't stick to zinc alloys well (brass) so an intermediate layer of copper is used. You must be pretty good at sanding to get the layers off so cleanly and not see the next.

 

[kosliev]

ugh, spent so much time making it work, only to find out there is a glaring short I can't fix if I flip it upside down, and when it doesnt short, it reads all wonky from 5 ohm to 100 ohm.

I'm reverting back to image in 1st post (so with the 510 connector as solder point), and using IC pins+sewing needles (thanks meatsneakers, seems to work pretty well).

hopefully solder will stick to sewing needles but i bet it wont.

___________
Ah yeah, for the driptip, well I took a 801 tip (rubber), trimmed a bit of the part that gets into the atom, and it fit perfect in the cone, I also like the 801 tip a lot.

To mount driptips I guess you can do the same thing, cut that part of rubber, place it around the driptip (probably remove the oring), and shave it a bit to fit.

 

[kosliev]

Well, done 1st post way, soldered on 510, coil is horizontal, IC pins+ sewing needles, just need to drill a hole in the cone and its done.

One thing puzzles me though, I've soaked it in 99° alcohol, I've boiled it, yet when I dryburn the coil with no wick (coil is about 2.5-3mm diameter, 1cm long, 0.18kanthal), the solder joints heat up, and you can smell the flux smell, or maybe thats the smell of the solder itself (lead free, 99% tin 1% copper).

Perhaps it wont heat up with a wick there, but at any rate, I'll sand down the posts a bit more so theres less of it.

Pictures whenever I get my hands on my camera

 

[kosliev]

Alright, heres the feedback:

I'm coming from eastmall 510HV atoms (4,2ohm new, 4,8ohm used), versus this atom with just 20 minutes of tests:

4ohm coil is about 2.5-3mm diameter, 1cm long, 0.18kanthal, 5.4V under load, ~7W vape, 10mg/ml 40% VG 60% PG, cotton wick (not boiled, just cut and rolled).

Taste: Fairly similar, more clean, some sides of the flavour are more recognizable, others are muted, I can now "taste" the typical smell of pure nicotine juice, if that makes sense, try to open your nicotine jar and smell that, thats whats coming trough, granted I use 4 drops of FA flavours in 7ml, and my nic juice is 1 year old

Vapor: less~same vapor, probably also due to the air intake I drilled being on the large side, and I'm not sure its positioned well, right now its slightly under the coil, however since you can screw/unscrew the cone, screw/unscrew the center pin on the 510-ego, and screw/unscrew the 510 connector, bend upwards/downwards the coil (between or above pins), theres a lot of room for adjusting

Wicking: First time with cotton (cut, rolled, slided inside the coil, about 2cm long), first few vapes were stingy, noxious almost, probably the "fat" from my fingers was on the wick, not sure but after a few non-inhaled hit its now gone, wicking seems good, its pretty damn juice hungry, the wick didnt expand as much as I thought it would so its not "so tight it pushes hard on the coil", I should probably try and make a new one but going trough the noxious chore right now..

Throat hit: Oh boy, what a mess, throat hit is hit or miss, sometimes slightly less, or onpar or slightly better but rarely, than the 510HV.
I get headspins and dizziness with a few drags, I've got faint nausea too, my guess is that, well I don't know, no weird tastes or smell, probably too high nicotine for the new setup, not sure why the throat hit isnt reckless as a byproduct though. I should probably make some PG/VG only juice and see whats it like, back throat scratching is gone though.

Overall I'm not sure it was worth it with the time and money you could very much just buy a premade rebuildable atom, if you already have tools (file, soldering iron), the few spare parts (510 connector, 510-ego, cone, 801 rubber tip, some IC pins, 2 sewing needles, kanthal wire, wick of choice), and enjoy building stuff then its alright, the cone hole with a file is going to take you a while, its sturdy.
If you don't mind fiddling, changing the coil/wick is also very simple, needles on IC pins holds the coil remarkably well, you can turn the coil so that the holes to the spiral are exposed for easy wick treading with a needle.

I know walls of text suck, pictures when I get a chance with the few instructions needed to make it.